WHAT  OUR  LIBRARY 
OFFERS  TO  OUR  STUDENTS 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


WHAT  OUR 

LIBRARY  OFFERS  To 

OUR  STUDENTS 


BY 


PROFESSOR  ALEXANDER  MARX 


Reprinted    by    courtesy    of    tKe    General    Publication 

Committee    of    tKe   Students'   Annual  of    tKe 

JewisK  TKeological  Seminary  of  America 

New  York,   1914 


WHAT  OUR 

LIBRARY  OFFERS  To 

OUR  STUDENTS 


BY 


PROFESSOR  ALEXANDER  MARX 


Reprinted    by    courtesy    of    tKe    General    Publication 

Committee   of    tKe  Students'  Annual  of    tbe 

Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of  America 

New  York,   1914 


WHAT   OUR   LIBRARY   OFFERS    TO    OUR 
STUDENTS 

BY  PROFESSOR  ALEXANDER  MARX. 

I  GLADLY  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  offered  by  the  kind 
invitation  of  the  Editors  of  the  Students'  Annual  to  contribute 
to  their  publication  an  article  on  a  subject  which  is  meant  primarily 
for  the  students  themselves.  I  wish  to  speak  of  the  purpose  of  our 
collections  of  old  books  and  manuscripts  and  the  use  to  which  they 
can  and  ought  to  be  put;  and  nothing  could  be  more  gratifying  to 
the  writer,  than  that  some  of  his  suggestions  would  be  taken  up 
by  our  students — perhaps  in  a  future  issue  of  this  Annual.  Of 
course  the  following  remarks  are  in  no  way  meant  to  be  exhaustive ; 
they  simply  contain  suggestions  occurring  to  the  writer,  while  glanc- 
ing over  our  MSS.  for  the  purpose  of  this  paper. 

In  these  eminently  practical  times,  we  are  particularly  inclined 
to  overlook  the  importance  of  the  study  of  our  past  and  to  under- 
estimate the  value  of  the  extant  records  of  the  spiritual  achieve- 
ments of  our  forefathers.  Collecting  old  Hebrew  books  is  looked 
upon  by  many  as  a  useless  fad  of  people  interested  in  curiosities 
which  are  devoid  of  all  real  value.  Writing  for  future  Rabbis,  it 
is  not  necessary  for  me  to  enlarge  upon  the  importance  of  the  study 
of  Jewish  history  and  literature;  but  it  might  be  desirable  to  dis- 
cuss the  value  of  our  collections  for  these  studies. 

The  most  important  subject  for  which  a  very  good  library  is 
absolutely  indispensable  is  the  edition  of  texts.  Correct  texts  form 
the  basis  of  every  historical  and  literary  investigation;  and  yet,  in 
spite  of  all  that  has  been  done  in  the  line  of  Jewish  science  during 
the  past  century,  very  little  in  comparison  with  other  literatures  has 
been  done  for  producing  correct  texts  of  our  standard  works. 

In  a  recent  publication  on  the  Oriental  Masora,  Dr.  Kahle  re- 
marks, that  nobody  would  think  of  quoting  a  classical  author  in  an 
edition  of  the  beginning  of  the  16th  Century  as  is  being  done  with 
the  Masoretic  text  of  the  Bible,  for  which  the  publication  of  Jacob 
ben  Hayyim  has  remained  the  standard-text  in  spite  of  the  fact 

918 


WHAT  OUR  LIBRARY  OFFERS  TO   OUR   STUDENTS        219 

that  the  material  for  and  the  principles  of  textnal  criticism  have 
greatly  advanced  since  that  period.  This  remark,  as  I  have  often 
had  occasion  to  point  out,  applies  with  even  greater  force  to  the 
larger  part  of  Jewish  literature.  Of  Jacob  ben  Hayyim's  text  we 
have  at  least  some  fairly  reliable  modern  reproductions  which  are 
accessible  to  every  serious  student;  but  most  of  the  other  works  of 
our  literature  are  accessible  only  in  reprints  which  do  not  go  back 
directly  to  the  first  editions,  but  to  more  recent  prints  which  were 
in  many  cases  full  of  the  worst  blunders.  For,  instead  of  being 
corrected  with  the  help  of  MSS.,  or  at  least  of  the  early  editions, 
they  became  the  victims  of  the  acumen  and  ingenuity  of  modern 
proofreaders,  who  tried  to  make  emendations  as  best  they  could  and 
thus  produced  texts  which  are  utterly  useless  for  scientific  pur- 
-poses.  To  give  some  instances,  the  separate  editions  of  the  Mishna 
were  made  to  agree  with  the  Babylonian  Talmud  in  the  middle  of 
the  16th  century;  and  the  Midrash-quotations  of  the  Yalkut  were 
"corrected"  according  to  the  Venice  editions  of  these  books.  These 
texts  are  constantly  referred  to,  because  the  older  editions,  owing 
partly  to  the  zeal  of  the  censors  of  the  16th  century,  are  extant  in 
only  very  few  copies.  It  is  thus  evident  that  the  scholar  is  com- 
pelled to  go  back  for  every  point  of  importance  to  these  first  edi- 
tions, which  it  is  in  most  cases  impossible  to  obtain,  and  which  can 
be  acquired  only  on  rare  occasions  when  a  copy  is  somewhere  offered 
for  sale.  If  we  ever  wish  to  develop  Jewish  science  in  this  country 
a  good  library  in  which  the  early  editions  are  well  represented  is  a 
conditio  sine  qua  non.  But  it  is  not  only  the  first  editions  that  are 
necessary  for  the  student ;  in  many  cases  the  corrections  of  later  edi- 
tions are  also  valuable  and  must  be  consulted  by  the  editor  of  a  text. 
In  some  rare  cases  later  editions  are  based  on  other  MSS.,  like 
Menahem  Meiri's  commentary  on  Proverbs  which  was  printed  three 
times  from  different  MSS.  Without  consulting  the  later  editions 
it  would  be  impossible  in  many  a  case  to  understand  the  conclusions 
of  modern  scholars  based  on  these  texts.  It  is  therefore  evident 
that  in  Hebrew  literature  the  old  books  cannot  yet  be  classed  as 
curiosities,  but  are  the  most  necessary  implements  of  scholarship. 
It  is  a  fortunate  thing  indeed  that  Judge  Sulzberger  many  years 
ago  foresaw  the  coming  need  of  a  great  Hebrew  library  in  this 
country  and  began  to  bring  together  many  of  the  rarest  books  at  a 
time  when  their  acquisition  was  still  comparatively  easy,  and  thus 


3021857 


220  STUDENTS'  ANNUAL 

procured  for  us  a  great  many  books  which  can  perhaps  never  be 
bought  again. 

If  the  use  of  old  editions  is  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  scholar, 
manuscripts  are  still  more  useful.  I  need  not  repeat  here  the  fact 
that  for  restoring  a  text  the  most  acute  mind  is  not  half  as  good 
as  a  MS.  Wherever  such  are  extant,  they  must  be  consulted  for  an 
edition  which  claims  any  scientific  value.  But  our  MSS.{jo  more 
than  merely  correct  our  printed  books.  A  vast  part  of  Jewish  litera- 
ture is  still  unpublished  and  only  accessible  in  MSS.  Of  course  a 
great  many  of  these  no  longer  deserve  publication,  but  it  would  be 
a  serious  mistake  indeed  to  assume  that  all  the  best  and  most  in- 
teresting works  were  made  accessible  by  the  early  printers.  In  the 
first  place  they  generally  published  those  texts  which  happened  by 
chance  to  be  at  hand  and  the  cases  of  careful  preparation  like  those 
for  Bomberg's  editions  of  the  Eabbinical  Bibles  and  of  the  Talmud 
form  the  exception;  and  secondly,  our  ideas  as  to  what  is  to  be 
considered  interesting  and  important  are  quite  different  from  those 
of  the  publishers  and  readers  of  former  centuries.  There  is  ac- 
cordingly a  considerable  number  of  books  which  ought  to  be  edited 
in  full.  Besides  these,  many  more  ought  to  be  examined  and  de- 
scribed so  that  they  find  their  place  in  the  history  of  Jewish  lit- 
erature, whilst  extracts  should  be  made  of  all  the  passages  contain- 
ing historical  and  biographical  matter. 

One  more  fact  I  wish  to  point  out  before  mentioning  some  of 
the  treasures  of  our  collections  which  should  be  made  accessible 
to  the  scholar.  There  is  probably  no  better  scientific  training  than 
the  careful  edition  of  a  text.  The  necessity  of  paying  attention  to 
every  word,  its  meaning  and  its  correctness,  of  studying  language 
and  style  of  the  author  in  order  to  decide  between  the  various  read- 
ings serve  as  an  invaluable  practice  in  thoroughness  and  accuracy 
in  detail,  which  will  afterwards  prove  useful  in  every  branch  of 
scientific  activity,  and  prevent  hasty  conclusions  from  insufficient 
evidence.  The  comparison  of  different  texts  shows  how  little  one 
can  in  many  cases  rely  on  the  statements  of  our  sources,  how  often 
careless  misprints  are  the  basis  for  ingenious  constructions  and 
fanciful  hypotheses.  At  the  same  time  the  editor  is  compelled  to 
feel  quite  certain  about  the  meaning  of  every  sentence,  the  difficulty 
of  which  the  ordinary  reader  will  frequently  overlook.  To  under- 
take an  edition  is  therefore  very  advisable  for  a  young  man,  and  it 


WHAT  OTTB  LIBRARY  OFFERS  TO   OUR  STUDENTS        221 

has  the  additional  advantage  that  his  contribution  to  learning  will 
be  of  lasting  value  as  his  name  will  remain  connected  with  that 
of  the  author  whose  work  he  publishes. 

I  shall  now  mention  a  number  of  subjects  which  could  well  be 
treated  with  the  material  accessible  to  the  student  in  our  library. 
Among  works  on  the  Bible  Abraham  ibn  Esra's  commentary  on  the 
Pentateuch,  generally  considered  his  chief  work,  might  be  edited 
from  the  two  valuable  MSS.  of  ours,  one  of  which  was  written 
in  Magnesia  in  1347.  In  addition  to  these  the  variants  of  a  third 
MS.  published  by  the  late  Professor  Bacher,  as  well  as  the  three 
earliest  editions  of  this  book  (Naples,  1488;  Constantinople,  1514; 
Venice,  1525)  which  were  printed  from  different  MSS.  are  avail- 
able for  a  critical  edition.  Such  an  edition  based  on  these  texts 
would  perhaps  not  be  absolutely  final,  but  it  would  mean  an  enor- 
mous step  forward  in  the  understanding  of  this  most  difficult  author, 
whose  peculiar  style  requires  most  careful  consideration.  Much 
easier,  but  not  less  important,  are  the  commentaries  of  E.  David 
Kimhi  with  their  numerous  interesting  quotations.  For  his  work 
on  the  Prophets  the  editio  princeps  (Soncino,  1485-6),  the  Leiria 
edition  (1494)  of  Judges1  and  the  Lisbon  edition  (1492)  of  Isaiah 
and  Jeremiah,  the  latter  two  based  on  Spanish  MSS.,  as  well  as  a 
Spanish  parchment  codex  on  Joshua,  Judges  and  Samuel,  a  second 
MS.  of  Samuel,  a  MS.  of  the  Latter  Prophets,  written  in  Spain 
(1462)  by  a  French  exile  from  Corbeil,  and  a  second  MS.  on  the 
Minor  Prophets  offer  ample  material  for  a  good  edition  of  these 
excellent  commentaries.  A  study  of  the  Targum  quotations  in 
these  books  based  on  this  material  and  compared  with  our  editions 
would  equally  prove  a  welcome  addition  to  our  Targum  studies. 
The  commentary  on  Job  ascribed  by  one  of  the  owners  of  the  codex 
to  the  same  author  ought  to  be  studied  and  compared  with  other 
works  of  the  French  school,  especially  with  MS.  Paris  207,  with 
which  it  has  many  points  in  common.  I  further  mention  the 
unique  copy  of  Josef  ibn  Shoshan's  commentary  on  the  Song  of 
Songs,  the  fragment  of  an  unknown  Tosafistic  commentary  on 
Numbers  and  some  exegetical  works  of  the  Karaites  like  Jefet  ben 


i  The  Targum  of  this  edition  also  deserves  to  be  examined.  It  con- 
tains e.  g.  in  the  Song  of  Deborah  three  Toseftas  which  are  found  only 
in  Haftara-MSS.  from  Yemen. 


222  STUDENTS'  ANNUAL 

All  on  the  Minor  Prophets  or  the  anonymous  commentator  of 
Deuteronomy,  of  whose  work  only  the  modern  copy  in  the  British 
Museum  (Cat.  Margoliouth  nr.  334),  of  which  ours  is  the  original, 
has  been  known  up  till  now. 

For  Midrash  our  copy  of  Aggadat  Shir  ha-Shirim  and  Midrash 
Zuta  to  Euth  certainly  ought  to  he  edited,  as  it  is  by  far  superior 
to  the  Parma  MS.  on  which  the  previous  editions  were  based. 

Our  considerably  large  Mishna  fragment  of  the  eleventh  century 
ought  to  be  examined  for  its  text  as  well  as  its  vocalisation.  For 
the  latter  the  Vatican  MS.  of  Sifra,  with  its  superlinear  punctua- 
tion would  probably  yield  most  interesting  and  valuable  results; 
we  possess  a  photograph  of  this  important  old  codex. 

While  we  only  have  small  MS.  fragments  of  the  text  of  the 
Talmud,  our  Library  is  in  possession  of  an  almost  complete  copy 
of  the  first  Venice  edition,  of  eight  treatises  of  the  earlier  Soncino 
texts,  and  of  the  recent  facsimile  editions  of  the  complete  Munich 
MS.  and  the  Hamburg  MS.  of  Nezikin.  The  importance  of  the  latter 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  is  one  of  the  very  few  Spanish  Talmud 
MSS.2  which  have  come  down  to  us.  To  this  group  also  belongs 
the  lately  discovered  Fez  edition  of  the  Talmud.  We  have  a  unique 
copy  of  the  first  half  of  Rosh  ha-Shana  which  ought  to  be  carefully 
examined  and  compared  with  the  other  texts.  Besides  these  indis- 
pensable materials  for  the  criticism  of  the  text  of  the  Talmud,  our 
Library  is  very  rich  in  old  commentaries  of  the  Talmud,  many  of 
which  deserve  publication  or  at  least  careful  examination.  This  is 
even  more  so  the  case  with  our  very  valuable  codes  which  could 
serve  to  correct  in  many  details  books  like  the  Mordekai,  Orhot 
Hayyim,  Rebtenu  Yeroham  and  others  which  are  the  sources  for  a 
great  part  of  our  literary  history.  The  unique  copy  of  the  fourth 
part  of  David  Kokabis  Sefer  ha-Battim  deserves  to  be  edited,  the 
little  known  and  rare  Sefer  ha  Neyar  (Book  of  Paper),  written 
on  the  margin  of  a  French  prayerbook  ought  to  be  elaborately  de- 
scribed. The  remarkable  MSS.  of  the  Maharil  ought  to  be  studied 
thoroughly  and  would  certainly  pay  for  the  trouble.  The  MS.  of 
the  Manhig  could  fill  the  gaps  of  the  current  edition  and  add  to  our 
information  about  the  different  rituals. 


2  It   shows,   however,   frequent   corrections  from   German   and   Italian 
hands. 


223 

For  the  study  of  the  latter  our  particularly  rich  liturgical  col- 
lection both  in  MSS.  and  rare  prints  offers  unusual  facilities.  A 
good  description  of  the  various  rites,  both  as  to  their  Stammgebete 
and  the  Piutim,  contained  in  them,  would  indeed  fill  a  long-felt 
need ;  Zunz's  masterly  treatment  in  his  "Ritus"  is  all  too  short  and 
very  difficult  to  follow  for  those  who  have  not  access  to  all  these 
partly  very  rare  works,  and  the  lists  of  Piutim  would  help  to 
eliminate  the  worst  drawback  of  Zunz's  "LiteraturgescJiichte  der 
synagogalenPoesie"  the  lack  of  indications  as  to  the  sources  in  which 
the  poems  recorded  by  him  are  to  be  found.  The  rite  of  Eomania, 
e.  g.,  of  which  so  few  copies  have  come  down  to  us  would  very  well 
lend  itself  to  such  a  monograph;  that  of  Avignon  and  Carpentras, 
described  by  Zunz  on  the  basis  of  the  inadequate  material  accessible 
to  him  in  1838,  is  represented  by  a  complete  set  of  all  published 
texts  and  of  several  MSS.  The  exceedingly  rare  Machzorim  of  the 
Arragon  and  Catalonia  communities  of  Salonica  ought  to  be  studied 
and  their  first  editions  compared  with  their  reproductions 
in  the  last  century,  so  as  to  show  the  strong  influence  the  Kab- 
bala  has  exerted  on  them  since  that  period;  likewise  a  collation  of 
the  Roman  and  German  rituals  in  the  MSS.  and  numerous  editions 
from  different  periods  which  are  accessible  here  would  yield  valu- 
able results.  The  different  North-African  rituals  would  have  to 
be  taken  up  together  as  they  are  so  closely  related  to  one  another ; 
only  on  close  examination  a  decision  as  to  the  relationship  of  some 
of  the  MSS.  of  this  group  will  be  possible.  The  unpublished  Mach- 
zorim of  rites  like  those  of  Northern  France,  Corfu,  or  Asti,  Fos- 
sano  and  Moncalvo  should  be  particularly  interesting  for  special 
discussion.  A  series  of  monographs  of  this  kind  undertaken  by  a 
number  of  our  students  according  to  a  uniform  system  would  cer- 
tainly form  an  important  contribution  to  Jewish  learning  and 
would  at  the  same  time  be  most  instructive  for  those  who  would 
undertake  this  task.  There  are  a  good  many  more  liturgical  MSS. 
which  invite  a  closer  investigation.  There  is  the  old  copy  of  the 
Machzor  Vitry  which  is  free  from  the  numberless  additions  of  the 
edition  and  therefore  indispensable  for  an  examination  of  the  in- 
fluence of  R.  Simchah  of  Vitry's  work  on  our  liturgy.  There  is  also 
the  curious  Tosafistic  commentary  on  the  German  Machzor  briefly 
described  by  Gross,  of  which  at  least  large  speciments  ought  to  be 


224  STUDENTS'  ANNUAL 

printed.  There  are  the  numberless  rituals  for  special  occasions  both 
printed  and  inedited,  which  offer  frequently  an  historical  interest 
or  are  remarkable  proofs  of  the  patriotism  and  loyalty  of  the  Jews. 

From  liturgy  we  naturally  turn  to  poetry  a  large  part  of  which 
is  likewise  religious.  In  this  branch  the  little  known  school  of 
North-African  poets  is  represented  by  a  considerable  number  of 
large  colections  of  poems ;  several  other  extensive  volumes  of  poetic 
works  come  from  the  Orient  and  will  no  doubt  when  closely  studied 
equally  enrich  our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  Hebrew  poetry.  Of 
Israel  Nagara's  unpublished  collection  Shearit  Israel  we  have  seven 
MSS.  which  Prof.  Davidson  has  copied  for  publication.  Immanuel 
Bonn's  Mahberoth  can  be  corrected  in  many  places  from  our  in- 
complete MS.,  and  a  second  one  containing  the  first  four  chapters, 
the  latter  curiously  enough  being  followed  by  a  code. 

In  our  rich  Kabbalistic  collection  the  old  mystical  works  of  the 
Geonic  period  like  the  Hekhalot  and  the  Shiur  Eoma  are  found  in 
good  texts  which  deserve  publication;  a  MS.  of  the  former  is  par- 
ticularly noteworthy,  as  it  has  the  numbers  of  the  chapters  from 
twenty  to  twenty-nine  in  Greek,  written  of  course  in  Hebrew  char- 
acters, by  a  German  scribe,  while  ultimately  no  doubt  going  back 
to  a  Greek  copyist.  The  MS.  is  divided  in  thirty-six  chapters,  differ- 
ing also  in  this  respect  from  the  other  versions.  Another  book 
which  lends  itself  to  an  interesting  monograph  is  Shemtob's  Sefer 
Emunot  with  its  numerous  remarkable  quotations  from  the  old 
mystics,  genuine  and  falsified  ones ;  as  the  only  edition  of  this  book 
is  very  corrupt,  our  old  MS.  ought  to  be  consulted  for  such  a  study. 
Moses  Botarel's  handbook  of  practical  Kabbala  probably  would  be 
worth  a  thorough  study;  of  Jochanan  Alemanno's  rare  Ene  Haeda 
two  good  MSS.  invite  an  examination  which  would  supplement  the 
information  about  this  remarkable  author  brought  together  by 
Steinschneider  and  Perles.  Partly  to  this  group  belongs  the  theo- 
logical work  Arbaa  Kinyanim  by  Juda  ben  Solomon,  a  pupil  of  the 
famous  Talmudist  E.  Jomtob  ben  Abraham  of  Seville,  whose  de- 
fective Sefer  Zilckwron,  a  defense  of  Maimonides'  philosophy  against 
the  attacks  of  Nachmanides,  is  frequently  quoted;  possibly  these 
quotations  may  supplement  some  of  the  missing  parts  of  that  work. 
Ldpmann  of  Muehlhausen,  the  well-known  author  of  the  polemical 
Sefer  Nizzachon,  of  which  we  also  have  a  MS.,  wrote  a  mystical 
commentary  on  parts  of  Maimonides  "Guide  of  the  Perplexed,"  of 


WHAT  OUR  LIBRARY  OFFERS  TO  OUR  STUDENTS        225 

which  hardly  anything  is  known;  we  have  the  only  copy  of  that 
book  of  the  South-German  author,  whose  work  found  its  way  to 
Aleppo  and  thence  to  our  Library,  a  curious  example  of  the  wan- 
derings of  the  Jews  and  their  books. 

Among  polemical  literature  several  books  are  of  considerable 
interest,  such  as  the  little  known  criticism  of  the  New  Testament 
by  Juda  Brieli,  who  is  famous  as  an  opponent  of  the  dangerous 
activity  of  Nehemiah  Hayyon,  or  the  Asham  Talui,  of  his  pupil 
Joshua  Segre,  or  from  earler  times  Shemtob  Shaprut's  Eb  en  Bohan, 
including  the  oldest  Hebrew  translation  of  the  Gospel  in  its  last 
part.  Of  the  latter,  we  possess  two  MSS.,  while  we  also  have  two 
MSS.  of  the  complete  work.  Moses  de  Tordesillas'  Ezer  Jia-Emuna, 
which  is  found  in  our  library  in  three  copies,  and  Abraham  Farisol's 
Mag  en  Abraham  also  deserve  fuller  treatment  than  has  been  accorded 
to  them  heretofore. 

Mathematical  and  astronomical  texts  might  perhaps  not  be 
very  attractive  for  students,  but  many  of  our  books  in  this  line 
would  lend  themselves  to  an  interesting  investigation,  such  as  the 
Judeo-Spanish  text  of  Abraham  Zacut's  astronomical  tables  which 
served  Columbus  so  well,  or  Maimonides'  medical  aphorisms.  The 
two  MSS.  of  the  latter  would  greatly  correct  the  poorly  printed 
edition  which  also  omits  the  sources.  Of  the  philosopher  Moses 
Narboni's  rare  medical  work  Orach  Hayyim  our  two  MSS.  offer 
two  quite  different  versions. 

For  historical  research  our  collections  offer  particularly  rich 
material  for  Italy,  both  in  printed  books  and  MSS.  We  have  sev- 
eral inedited  Responsa  collections,  a  number  of  account  books  from 
the  18th  century  from  Mantua,  Ferrara  and  other  communities, 
small  occasional  writings  which  in  prose  or  in  verse  contain  ac- 
counts of  little  known  local  events  and  other  important  texts.  In 
this  conection  I  might  also  mention  Maimonides'  Arabic  letter  to 
Yemen  and  some  other  of  his  epistles  of  which  no  copy  but  that 
of  our  Library  is  known.  These  are  being  edited  by  Prof.  Fried- 
laender. 

Of  Arabic  texts  we  have  Maimonides'  Mishna  commentary 
to  three  orders,  only  parts  of  which  have  been  published  in  a  large 
number  of  German  and  Hungarian  doctor  dissertations,  several  im- 
portant Karaitic  works  of  an  exegetical  and  philosophic  character, 
unknown  translations  of  the  Bible,  and  others. 


226  STUDENTS'  ANNUAL 

Our  collection  of  about  700  Haggadas,  as  well  as  that  of  our 
beautiful  Italian  Ketuboth,  could  be  used  for  an  interesting  article 
on  illustrations  of  Hebrew  books  at  different  periods.  With  our 
rich  treasures  of  rare  prints  the  filiation  of  the  printers  types  might 
be  traced  and  an  interesting  chapter  be  added  to  the  history  of 
Hebrew  typography,  for  which  Steinschneider's  hand  copies  of  his 
own  works  with  his  innumerable  additions  offer  unique  sources  of 
information.  Altogether  the  marginal  notes  in  the  books  of  this 
most  eminent  scholar  are  of  incomparable  value  for  every  subject 
in  which  he  was  interested,  as  his  critical  pen  marked  every  doubt- 
ful statement,  and  very  often  by  a  valuable  reference  leads  the  way 
to  further  research  on  the  subject.  In  many  of  Halberstam's  and 
Kautzsch's  books  such  marginal  notes  will  also  be  found  to  be  of 
great  help. 

I  am  afraid  my  article  has  grown  to  undue  proportions,  and  the 
enumeration  of  all  these  topics  might  sound  tedious.  At  all 
events,  the  subject  cannot  be  exhausted  in  a  short  article,  and 
in  the  above  the  examples  from  the  different  branches  of  Jewish 
literature  have  been  selected  at  random  and  could  just  as  well 
be  substituted  by  others.  Subjects  requiring  special  prepara- 
tion and  extended  researches  have  as  a  rule  been  left  out  of  con- 
sideration. My  only  aim  was  to  give  our  students  an  idea  of  the 
numerous  and  manifold  topics  in  which  they  can  find  material  for 
useful  work  in  our  library. 


UN»V.  UK  CALIF.  LlbKARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


